The Forbidden Forest
by Zephiriel
Summary: While working on a report, Hermione stumbles upon a book called The Forbidden Forest, about a boy and a girl who died at Hogwarts. Is there more to this story than meets the eye? And what do the Weasly twins know that she doesn't?


**Avada Kedavera**

**Note: Harry Potter characters do not belong to me. If they did, I would be a very happy person, and I would be getting excelent grades in English. Other characters that have not been mentioned in the book belong to me. **

Hermione sat at a library table sandwiched between two piles of thin books and scribbling madly on a long roll of yellow parchment, occasionally checking the book that was open before her.

Ron picked up one of the books. "'Gem of Ages?'" he read, turning the book around. He picked up another one. "' 'If There Was More To You?' 'How Transfiguration Changed Forever?' What is this rubbish?"

Hermione grabbed the book back. "They're magical fairytales, Ron. Where did you two come from, anyway?"

"What?"

"Quidditch," Harry replies.

"For your information, Ronald, fairytales are fictional accounts of real stories," She answered, rolling her eyes in a way that clearly said "Duh".

"How can something be real and fiction?" Ron asked.

"They're real stories twisted and altered into entertaining children's stories. Really, Ronald!"

"What's that one?" Harry asked, picking up the book she was reading. "Can I take a look?"

Hermione nodded. "But don't loose my page."

Harry flipped silently through the pages, then turned to the cover. "Hey, I know this story!" he announced, smiling. "'The Forbidden Forest!' It's a rather morbid one, isn't it? This really happened?"

"Of _course_ not, Harry!" she said, exasperatedly. "They change the story! I mean, it probably happened in a sense, but not like that! Honestly!" she clicked her tongue.

"Right…." Harry looked down at the cover illustration. It showed a handsome young man with black hair, pale skin and astonishingly bright blue eyes. Next to him was a girl with curly brown hair, dressed in a velvet gown embroidered with gold thread.

Ron laughed. "Hey! She looks like you, Hermione!" he said, pointing at the girl over Harry's shoulder.

Hermione snatched the book back. "If you two _don't_ mind, I would like to finish my essay!" she snapped, glaring at Ron.

"What about dinner?" Harry asked.

"I have some chocolate in my trunk, I'll eat that. Now, _please_, I would _really_ like to finish this tonight," she begged.

"Suits yourself," Ron replied. "I'm going to dinner."

"_THANK _you!"

* * *

It was close to midnight when she rolled up her parchment and put it back in her bag. She had been kicked out of the library hours before, and so she was sitting under a window that looked over the Forbidden Forest, the lake and the Whomping Willow. She grabbed the three books she had borrowed (_The Forbidden Forest_, _Ice and Bark, _and _Unicorn Hair_) and tucked them under her arm.

That story, _The Forbidden Forest_ had taken place in Hogwarts. She wondered if that was really the way it happened….She laughed nervously. "Of course not," she assured herself. "That's ridiculous."

Still…the story said that every night at midnight you could see his ghost, wondering lost around the edge of the forest….

"I've run around the edge of that forest loads of times, _especially_ at midnight!" she whispered to herself. "And I've never seen him. Not _once_!"

She stopped nervously and looked out the window at the distant forest, calm and quiet. She scanned the edge. No ghost.

"There, you see?" she told herself, feeling ridiculous. "There's no…."

A figure was sitting by the lake. It was silvery and slightly see through, feet dangling in the water.

She swallowed. _It's probably just Nearly Headless Nick_ _or one of the other ghosts,_ she thought. But this figure was too lean, too young, too….

Hermione caught its eyes; ice blue eyes, staring at her through the darkness. It was the only hint of color on him.

She gasped, terrified, petrified as she stared into his cold eyes. Her breaths came in quick, shallow gasps. Her heart was beating in her throat. He looked just like the boy on the cover of the book, and she…she looked just like his lost love.

His figures stood up, drifted closer to the castle….

Hermione heard a 'meow'. Mrs. Norris. Where there was Mrs. Norris…there was Filch.

She tore her eyes away from his and ran towards the Gryffindor tower, her feet pounding on the cold stone.

"Who's there?" she heard Filch shout. She saw the light from his lamp spilling across the floor just as she turned the corner and thundered up the stone steps toward the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Doodlebug!" she shouted.

The portrait swung open and she threw herself inside the hole and into the Common Room.

She collapsed in one of the squishy armchairs by the fire, breathing heard. Her legs felt like Jell-O.

"Just get back, did you?"

Hermione jerked her head towards the voice.

Ron was stretching his arms on one of the couches. He yawned and shook a formless lump on the chair across him. "Harry, she's back."

Harry sat up sleepily and felt around the table, halfheartedly looking for his glasses. He out them on, took them off, cleaned the lenses, and put them back on. "Was wrong with you?" he yawned, rubbing his eye. "…look like you've seen a ghost…'cept that's perfectly normal 'round here."

"Oh, but I have!" Hermione gasped, terrified. "From the story! Oh, Harry, you were right! It's true! He's still looking for her!"

"Looking for who?" Ron muttered, poking the logs in the fireplace with a long metal poker.

"From the story _The Forbidden Forest_! He…"

The windows blew open. The curtains bellowed and a small white figure floated in.

Hermione screamed.

"Relax, Hermione!" Harry said, startled. "It's only Hedwig!"

Hedwig landed softly on Harry's shoulder and held out a foot. There was a letter tied to it. The parchment looked old and worn, crispy at the edges with age.

Harry took the letter and the snowy owl nipped him on the ear affectionately. He scratched the back of her neck. "It's all in your head, Hermione," he said finally, untying the letter. "It's late and you've been working on that stupid essay for hours. You're just tiered; you're seeing things." He unrolled the parchment. "Besides, it's like you said; it's just a children's story. It's not real." Harry's eyes scanned the letter as he read it silently.

"Perhaps you're right, Harry," she sighed, leaning on her arm. "Maybe I should just forget it and go to bed."

"Good idea," Ron replied, lifting himself up from the chair.

"By the way," he asked, staring down at the letter. "Do we know a guy named Todd?"

"Don't think so," Ron replied.

Hermione gasped. "That's him!" she shouted, jumping to her feet. "The b-boy from the story! T-Todd! It wasn't my imagination! I _told _you!"

"Todd's a popular name," Harry reminded her. "But this is for you, not me, I suppose—unless he wants me to meet him."

"What!"

Hermione snatched the letter from his hand and scanned it.

"What's it say?" Ron asked.

"'D-Dear Aña,'" she stammered, gripping the letter so tightly in her hands that her knuckle were turning white, "'or whoever you are. Please meet me tomorrow night, midnight, by the gamekeeper's cabin. If you are scared to come alone, feel free to bring with you the owner of this beautiful bird and the red haired boy sitting next to you. Best wishes, Todd.'"

She glanced out the window. No one was there. The grounds were empty, as they were supposed to be.

"H-he can see us!" Ron asked, ducking behind the chair.

"So, what are you going to do?" Harry asked. "Are you gonna go see him?"

Hermione nodded slowly. "But you're both coming with me!"

"Hey!" Ron stood up and grabbed the letter from her. He flipped it over. "There's something written on the back! 'Give my regards to Fred and George.'"

"I think we need to have a chat with those two," Hermione said, checking the back of the letter.

"In the morning. I'm going to bed," Harry announced. "We have that Potions test tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning, Hermione had a hard time paying attention in all of her classes—which was very un-Hermione of her. She kept the letter from Todd in her pocket and his story in her book bag. Every few minutes she would pull the letter out and re-read it, just to make sure. At breakfast, she kept glancing over at the twins. She would speak to them this afternoon when her classes were done.

Finally, they were dismissed for the day. She cornered Fred and George as they were coming out of Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall and pulled them aside.

"What's all this about, then, Hermione?" Fred asked.

Hermione pulled the letter out of her pocket and shoved it in his face.

"What can you tell me about him?" she asked.

Fred quickly read over the letter, then passed it over to George, who mumbled as he read.

"What makes you think we know him?" George asked, handing the note back to Hermione.

She flipped it around and handed it back to them.

"Oh, well, that does put us on the spot doesn't it?" Fred muttered.

"Well?"

"Alright, alright," George replied.

"We'll tell you…" Fred continued.

"If you don't tell anyone," George finished.

"Just Harry and Ron. They're coming with me tonight," Hermione assured them.

"Right. It goes like this…."

"In our first year," George interrupted.

"Oy! I'm tellin' the story!" Fred snapped.

"Oh, who cares? Just _tell_ me!"

"In our first year," Fred continued, glaring at his twin brother, "we were trying to sneak into the Forbidden Forest at midnight and we ran into him. We started talking and he told us how he got killed and about the story they wrote about him and his girl…."

Hermione pulled out the book. "This one?" she asked, handing it to George.

"Yeah, that's the one," George replied. "Only, it's completely wrong, it is! Said so 'imself!"

"Yeah. He wasn't shot by a centaur. He was drowned in the lake. His girl was killed by the same guy, on'y she was killed by a curse. Can't remember which one, though," Fred said thoughtfully. After a few seconds silence, he shrugged. "You can ask him tonight. He'll tell you."

"Anyway, he says he's not gonna leave 'till he finds out who killed 'im an' his girl," George finished. "Can't remember her name either."

"Aña," Hermione said.

"Bless you," Fred said.

"No! Her name was Aña!"

"Oh yeah! Aña! That was it!" George announced triumphantly.

Hermione sighed.

"Well, see you later!" Fred said.

"And don't be afraid to talk to him! He's a cool guy after you get over the part about him being dead for a hundred 'er so years!" George added.

The twins disappeared into the crowded halls and Hermione was left standing alone, thinking.

* * *

As midnight rolled around, the three friends sat under the invisibility cloak. They were close enough to the lake to see what was happening, but far enough away to make sure they weren't dragged in by any giant squids or mermaids.

They waited in silence, scanning the grounds for any sign of the ghost boy, Todd.

"He's not coming," Ron whispered quickly. "Let's go to bed."

He stood up, but Harry and Hermione grabbed his shirt and tugged him back down.

"There he is!" Harry whispered.

A slim silver figure came out from the shelter of the Forbidden Forest. He looked around the lake for the three friends.

Harry whipped off the cloak just as the ghost looked their way. He was so shocked by their sudden appearance that he stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet.

"I didn't know ghosts could trip!" Ron announced excitedly.

They ran over to him. "Are you alright?" Hermione asked cautiously, careful to keep her distance, despite what Fred and George had told her.

He nodded and pushed himself up.

_He must have been handsome when he was alive_, she thought. It was true. His bangs hung in his eyes in a very charming manner, and his cloak hung behind him nobley.

He bushed his pants off and looked around at them. He studied Ron for a good thirty seconds. "Do you know Fred and George?" he asked, waving a gloved finger in front of Ron's freckled face.

He nodded. "They're my brothers," he informed him.

"I knew you looked familiar!" He smiled.

"Oy!"

"Wait for us!"

Fred and George were skidding down the hill towards the pond, slipping and sliding over the muddy ground.

When they reached the group, panting and wheezing, Fred attempted at slapping the ghost boy Todd on the shoulder—instead, his hand sailed through him and came out the other side.

"That's difficult," Fred said.

"Yeah?" Todd replied, lifting an eyebrow. "It's also uncomfortable. Don't do it again."

"Sorry."

"Well, what's the buzz?" George asked.

"What's the what?" Ron looked over at the dark woods. "Just to make one thing clear…we're not going in _there_ are we?"

Todd shook his head.

"We are," George replied. "Race ya Fred!"

"No you _can't_!" Hermione shrieked. "It's against school rules."

"So is being out of the dorms at midnight, but here we are," Fred replied. "GO!"

The twins raced for the trees. In seconds they were gone.

The group watched after them, staring at the forest's boarder.

"Some brothers you got there," Todd said, breaking the minute long silence.

"They give mom hell every day," he replied under his breath. "They give _me _hell every meal."

"Why did you want us here?" Harry asked.

Todd looked down at his see through boots and clacked together his see through heels. He looked up at Harry and smiled, then to Hermione. "I need you to do me a favor," he said quietly.

"What kind of favor?" Ron asked nervously. "The kind of favor that gets us kicked out of school? Or the kind of favor that keeps my head on my shoulders?"

Todd looked up at the campus, towering way above their heads.

"Well…."

* * *

"We're done for!" Ron moaned at breakfast the next morning. "There's no way we can pull that off!"

"Oh, we can do it!" Hermione said encouragingly. "It's not like we haven't broken in before!"

"I wonder what he needs it for?" Harry asked, sticking a piece of sausage into his mouth.

"What? Our head or the b…."

"Quiet Ron! Professor McGonagall's coming!" Hermione snapped.

Ron shoved the last of his pancake across his plate and looked nervously after Professor McGonagall as she passed. He gulped down his pumpkin juice in a hurry, his eyes still glued to her pointy green hat, making sure she was far enough away not to hear his whining.

"Well Ron," Hermione said, "you really don't have to come. Todd said it was a job for me and that you two are only back up. He said _I'll_ know it when I see it, not _you_."

"Hey!" Ron snapped. "A ghost gives you one job and all of a sudden you get to act all high and mighty. I don't think so! I'm coming and there's nothing you can do about it! THAT'S FINAL!" He slammed his fist against the table as he shouted these last words. The whole of Gryffindor turned around and looked at him.

"Good," Hermione replied triumphantly, smiling from ear to ear. "It's settled then. We leave at eleven and head down with it before midnight. Got it?"

Harry nodded. Hermione elbowed Ron in the side. He grunted, but nodded anyway.

"Excellent."

* * *

"Stop squirming Ron!" Hermione snapped from under the invisibility cloak as they approached the library.

It was 11:10. They had left at little later than she had liked, but they were on schedule anyway. They had run into Peeves once near the Charms room, juggling potatoes and plates, but otherwise the halls had been dead empty all the way here.

"Alohamora!" she hissed.

The lock clicked and she pushed the door open. Harry closed it behind them and took the cloak off.

"Lumos," he whispered. A small light flared at the tip of his wand.

Hermione and Ron repeated the spell with the same effect.

"The restricted section is back here," Harry whispered, grabbing Hermione's wrist and dragging her through shelves and shelves of books. When they reached an old door at the back of the room, Harry put his wand to the lock and whispered, "Alohamora." He pushed the door open silently and slid in, dragging Hermione behind him. Just as Ron had started to enter, he handed him the invisibility cloak and said, "Stand guard out here. Come get us if you see anyone."

Ron nodded.

"Now," Hermione whispered, running her hand over the spines of the books stacked on old, dusty shelves. "Where is that book?"

She pulled out a thin volume, flipped it open, and scanned the first page. "…not the one," she muttered, sliding it back into it's exact spot. She looked for another thin book. Her fingers stopped over a small book with a blue cover. "No, that's not it either," she said, dismissing it immediately.

"How do you know?" Harry hissed, reaching for the book.

Hermione slapped his hand. "Because the cover of _that one's_ blue. We're looking for one with a red cover and silver letters." She stopped. How did she know that? Todd had only told them that it was in the restricted section of the library.

"How do you know?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Call it a hunch," she said softly.

At the end of the bookshelf, she caught a glint of silver. She ran over to it, snatched it out and flipped it to the first page. She skimmed it. "Todd and Aña!" she said more loudly than was necessary. "This is it, Harry! This is the one!"

Ron shoved his head through the door. "Filch is here!" he whispered loudly.

Hermione and Harry stared at each other, then bounded towards Ron and the safety of the cloak. They ducked under it just in time.

"Who's there!" Filch snapped.

They could hear the light tapping of Mrs. Norris's paws against the floor as they sped through the bookshelves—and found themselves face to face with the caretaker of Hogwarts.

"Shit!" Harry cursed silently.

"I know you're here!" Filch shouted.

They pressed themselves up against the shelf.

"I can hear your breathing…." he said slyly, no doubt feeling very proud of himself. He walked past them, armed with a mop, calling to them.

"Go!" Ron whispered. The tree of them snuck passed him and ran for the door, careful not to make a sound.

They didn't stop running, either, until they reached the edge of the forest, where they were supposed to meet Todd at midnight.

They collapsed under a tree and Hermione tore the cloak away, gasping for breath, clutching the book in her hand. She looked at it (her wand pressed up against the cover, the lumos charm still in effect) and read the title to herself. "Avada Kedavera," she said quietly.

"What?" Harry asked, turning away from Ron.

"I know this story…I read it in _Hogwarts, A History_ back in our first year! The murders…his murderer…."

"Spit it out, Hermione!" Ron shouted.

"Don't you see! There was no _third person_, Ron! _She _killed _him_! Aña killed Todd!" Hermione explained.

"What?"

She turned around, facing the forest.

"Impossible…" Todd stammered. "We…we loved each other…"

"Yes. She killed herself after she killed you. That's why it seems like there was a third person," Hermione explained, waving the book in his face.

"That's impossible," Todd said, shaking his head. "She was killed…"

"You don't know _how_ she was killed. The fairytale version says she gave up her life for you. You think someone killed her using a curse. Well, you're half right. Listen." She flipped the small volume open to the last page and started to read out loud from it, "Aña tried to live her life as she had before, while her love Todd had been with her. She had convinced herself that his death was all for the better. And so she did.

"She lived happily with her friends in Hogwarts until All Hallows Eve of the next year…the one year anniversary of her love's death. She had burst into tears at the dinner table, and refused to stop. Her friends started to worry about her, and so they asked about the cause of the tears.

"Some say it was there question that triggered it; some say it was Elizabeth's gown, which was Todd's favorite shade of emerald green; still others insist that she went insane with grief. What ever it was, poor Aña seized Elizabeth's wand and ran towards the lake where she had killed her high school sweetheart.

"'I'll always love you, Todd!' she shouted before pointing the wand at her throat, and chanting the first recorded use of the Avada Kadavera curse." Hermione closed the book and stared at Harry. "You-Know-Who must have found this book while he was here at Hogwarts. The curse is engraved on the back cover."

Todd stared up at the moon, and looked back at them.

"Thank you," he whispered.

A few minutes silence followed.

"Does the book say anything else?" he asked suddenly. "Anything about where she went after she died?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"It says 'his death was all for the better,'" Ron repeated, staring at the book. "Why would it say that? I mean…there must have been a reason, right?"

"If that book is as accurate as we think, it should written be there." Todd smiled and started to fade away. "I'll see you guys around," he whispered…and he was gone.

Ron snatched the book from Hermione.

"Will you _stop_ doing that?" she snapped.

He ignored her and turned the pages carefully one by one.

"That's very rude as well!" Hermione lectured. "You should pay attention when people talk to you! Ron? Really! How…"

"Shut up, Hermione!" Ron snapped. "Listen for once!"

Hermione shrunk back. If it hadn't been so dark out, you would have seen her cheeks turn a vibrant shade of red.

Ron put his wand closer to the page. The light at the tip grew brighter as he started to read directly from the old crinkled parchment. "Todd and Aña were from two completely different worlds. She was the daughter of the Tsar's sister from Russia, and he was the son a single mother who worked as a baker in Egypt. He was sorted into Gryffindor, and she into Slytherin (It's starting to make sense why she killed him). They met at Hogwarts and instantly fell in love. In their forth year, Todd returned to Hogwarts diagnosed with lung cancer…."

"So that's why she killed him," Harry whispered.

Hermione stared at her feet, lost in thought. Finally, she whispered, "Let's go to bed. There's nothing else we can do."

* * *

Todd never showed up at the lake again, no matter how many times Hermione, Harry, Ron or even the twins went down and waited.

Every night, Hermione would gaze out the window in her dorm and watch the lake, waiting for him. Never did she see him, waiting for his love. He was gone for good, which made her happy in a sense, but sad every time she saw the empty grounds.

She thought, maybe, like Aña, she had fallen for the charm of the baker's son. But she couldn't help thinking that if he wasn't killed…if he hadn't met Aña…if he hadn't gotten that stupid cancer…. She couldn't help thinking that it was his fault so many people had died in the hands of You-Know-Who. If…

'_If's never get you anywhere,_ she told herself.

And that was how the Avada Kadavera curse came to be.

**The End**


End file.
